Tickets are $32 at the gate today through Sunday. Seniors (60 and older) pay $21 at the gate for any day. A season badge, good for the entire week, is $120. You may also buy tickets online, at a lower rate, by going to the tournament Web site, www.farmersinsuranceopen.com/tickets.

Military members and dependents will be admitted free with a current Department of Defense identification card. Military personnel and their immediate families also will have free access to the Military Appreciation Pavilion, located next to the 14th green on the South Course. The pavilion is open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

Field

This year’s field will consist of 156 players. Each player will play a round on the North and South courses Thursday and Friday. After the Friday cut to the low 70 players and ties, all play will be on the South Course.

Prize money

The tournament purse is $5.8 million, up $500,000 from last year. First place will be worth $1,044,000. Both amounts are records for the tournament.

Parking

Parking is free today at the Glider Port adjacent to the South Course.

Beginning Thursday, fans may park at the Del Mar Show Park or Qualcomm Stadium and take the shuttle. Shuttle lot parking is $20 per vehicle for round-trip service, which runs from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Brian Smock has played enough golf around San Diego County that he can rattle off a list of places where he owns the course record.

He’s most proud of the 60 he shot at his home course, Coronado Municipal. And there are a handful of others, including Salt Creek, Vineyard, North Island, even Real Del Mar Golf Resort, between Tijuana and Rosarito in Baja California.

But of all the courses in San Diego County, the two he wouldn’t mind owning the records on are the tracks he’ll play this week for the first time as a professional, the North and South Courses of Torrey Pines. Smock is in the Farmers Insurance Open courtesy of a sponsor’s exemption from the Century Club. But if ever a local guy deserved a shot at making big PGA Tour money, it’s Smock, a professional on the minor tours since 1994, but coming off his best season ever on the Nationwide Tour.

Incredibly, this is his first PGA Tour event.

“It’s my first after over 130 tournaments (on minor tours),” Smock said after playing a practice round on the North Course this week.

Smock, who turns 38 on March 1, is still a resident of Coronado, where he grew up and graduated from Coronado High in 1991. He played in 27 Nationwide events last year and had one second-place finish (at the Panama CLARO Championship), made 18 cuts and had four top-10s. He averaged 69.86, his best scoring average ever and made $185,050, his best showing in four years on the Nationwide Tour. But he didn’t finish in the top-25 in earnings to get a spot on the PGA Tour.

So, to what does he owe his best year ever after all the years of grinding on the minor tours?

“I’m just working more efficiently and playing smarter,” Smock said. “I’m not getting caught up in swing mechanics and just focusing more on playing and doing what I need to do to play well.”

Smock and his wife, Aidan, recently welcomed the couple’s second child, Quinn, a girl who was born four months ago at a time Smock was battling for a PGA spot before missing his chance in Qualifying School. The couple also has a son, Ty, 2½.

“Breaks my heart every time I leave right now,” he said. “But this is all I know how to do. I make a decent living, and it pays the bills. I just try to use my time efficiently when I’m away.”

Smock doesn’t have to leave home this week. He can drive from Coronado, and as he looked around the putting greens Monday at Torrey Pines, he saw the PGA Tour lifestyle he covets.

“This is where I want to be, out here,” Smock said. “You don’t grow up saying you want to play on the Nationwide Tour. Nothing against the Nationwide because it’s a great tour and 75 percent of the players out here have gone through there. It’s a place for young guys to learn their game and for guys who fall off up here. For me, it’s been a place to make a living and improve my game.”